More Brooks Stevens love, yes, but he whipped up so many unique and interesting designs, and if we had to choose one day to spend with him, it would likely be December 12, 1963, when he met with Charlie Sorensen to design an inexpensive, lightweight, all-fiberglass unit-body car that could theoretically save Studebaker’s automotive business. Stevens worked up the designs and Sorensen worked up the production methods and costs, but, of course, Studebaker shot the design down before it had much of a chance to fly. Still, to watch the two legends conjure a design in just one day, as described by Rich Taylor in SIA #30, September-October 1975, would have been quite gratifying.

8 Responses to “SIA Flashback – One-Day Wonder”

I haven’t yet read the article but I can’t help observing that the car in the picture at the top of this blog appears to have its roof on backwards!
I will read on, if only for the reason that I’m intrigued with the notion of a unit-body car made of fiberglass.

I can’t imagine the idea of making the fiberglass unibody the main structure of the car would have survived any real world durability testing — and I don’t even want to think about the results of crash testing such a car, although that was not an issue in 1963. But, with the mod of extending a metal frame the length of the car, it would be doable, and they might have been able to buy the V6 tooling from Buick in ’65. Studebaker could have had another chance if someone with money had had a little courage.

I’m running across this article a few years late…but I’m ASTOUNDED at the creativity. Two brilliant men invent an entire car company from scratch in one day?! This would have absolutely saved Studebaker from the brink, and who knows? they could still be around today.

If this story was made into a screenplay, it would be the feel-good movie of the year on par with “Tucker”.

It’s so very, very tragic that this could never, never, happen in today’s political climate, unless the cars were registered as experimental kit-builts to get past the Federalization regs.